I have the Christensen Arms Carbon Fiber Barrel for my .338 win mag and have no complaints. The largest positive about this barrel is that makes the rifle so light. This is a huge plus for me given that this rifle goes with me to Colorado for elk hunting. Packing in all your gear 6 miles at 10,000 ft elevation is hard enough.

I have read numerous posts saying that the CA barrels are garbage, but my shot group and 700 yds can consistently fit into a 18" diameter circle all day long.

I have the Christensen Arms Carbon Fiber Barrel for my .338 win mag and have no complaints. The largest positive about this barrel is that makes the rifle so light. This is a huge plus for me given that this rifle goes with me to Colorado for elk hunting. Packing in all your gear 6 miles at 10,000 ft elevation is hard enough.

I have read numerous posts saying that the CA barrels are garbage, but my shot group and 700 yds can consistently fit into a 18" diameter circle all day long.

Do you really mean an 18" group? 2+ MOA group at 700 yds would cause me to work up a new load to find one in the 5" range.

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
"I come in peace. I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, tears in my eyes: If you f*ck with me, I'll kill you all." MarineGeneral Mattis
Custom built 7mm SAUM

18" is good for me. I like to play around at long distances for target shooting, but my .338 win mag is strictly a hunting rifle. I am not going to take a shot past 350-400 yrds. In fact, due to the terrain I hunt, I don't have 300+ yrd visibility.

I guess the intent of my post was to say that I truly believe that the weight savings for the carbon fiber barrel is worth it. These things are super light compared to a bull barrel. However, my interests are in hunting. If I was going to build a target rifle, I would not care about the weight and would not dabble with carbon fiber.

That being said, (I hope I don't highjack the intent of this post) I think Jarhead is right. Something is wrong with my load. I have sub MOA groups out to 400 yrds and then something happens to the ballistics and my groups start to open up very rapidly. Again, I don't think it has anything to do with the barrel. My load is just screwed up.

also curious about carbon barrels, have done plenty of research on the subject and seems a lot of people have had bad luck with ABS customer service and i see they have sold their rights and a new company is being formed "Proof Research" hopefully they will be getting barrels out in a timely matter. i also see that magnum research is starting to sell carbon barrels and am interested in them as well, i would like a smaller contour though the one they have in 7mm at 24" says it weighs 3.1 pounds. I think i can get lighter than that with a steel barrel. Pac-Nor's sight says a #5 countour .7" at the muzzle will come in about the same (with 8 flutes).